Sudden change of geometric quantum discord in finite temperature reservoirs

• Comparable study of different distance-based geometric quantum discords.
• Evolution of the geometric quantum discords in finite temperature reservoirs.
• Different geometric quantum discords exhibit distinct sudden changes.
• Nonunique states ordering imposed by different geometric quantum discords.

We investigate sudden change (SC) behaviors of the distance-based measures of geometric quantum discords (GQDs) for two non-interacting qubits subject to the two-sided and the one-sided thermal reservoirs. We found that the GQDs defined by different distances exhibit different SCs, and thus the SCs are the combined result of the chosen discord measure and the property of a state. We also found that the thermal reservoir may generate states having different orderings related to different GQDs. These inherent differences of the GQDs reveal that they are incompatible in characterizing quantum correlations both quantitatively and qualitatively.